The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
3-0
Seattle University
1-2
No. 2 Volleyball defeats Seattle, 3-0 to win Lobo Classic
08.30.2014 | Volleyball
Hattis and Neal posted career-high numbers to fuel Texas past Seattle, 3-0.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Junior Sara Hattis made the most of her homecoming, leading No. 2 Texas Volleyball past Seattle University, 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.
The victory earned UT the Lobo Classic tournament crown after defeating UTEP, New Mexico and Seattle, all in straight sets.
Hattis, a New Mexico native, posted a career-high nine blocks, including one solo block and eight assisted.
Junior Amy Neal also had a career high number on the day after recording 11 kills for a .421 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Pilar Victoria capped an impressive weekend, finishing with six kills and three digs. Her performance earned her Lobo Classic Most Valuable Player.
Neal led the Longhorns in the first set with six kills and no errors. The teams traded points in the first part of the set, but Texas scored six-consecutive points and took the set, 25-14.
In the second set, Hattis earned five of her nine blocks to fuel UT to a 25-12 victory. Victoria posted four of her six kills in the set.
Seattle came out strong in the third set and led, 4-2 early, but the Longhorns tied it at 5-5 and the Redhawks could not answer. Senior Khat Bell had four of her seven kills in the set and Hattis posted three of her nine blocks.
Freshmen Mirta Baselovic and Kate Palladino and junior transfer Tiffany Baker all made their Texas debuts.
As a team, UT notched 18 blocks to Seattle's eight and outhit the Redhawks .441 to .050.
Texas will hit the road again next weekend to face No. 10 Florida in Gainesville, Fla. The match will begin at 6:30 p.m. CT.
All Tournament Champions: Texas
Second Place: New Mexico
All Tournament Team
Lindsey Larson, UTEP
Matea Mamic, Seattle
Chantale Riddle, New Mexico
Simone Henderson, New Mexico
Amy Neal, Texas
Nicole Dalton, Texas
Pilar Victoria, Texas - MVP
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
On the weekend: I'm obviously really excited about the results of the weekend. We got to look at a lot of players and see how they performed in a live situation. It's great when you get to see the younger players helping develop our program -- like Pilar and Amy. They are playing at a high level and it shows that we have a lot of talent and potential as a team. We are excited, but we have a lot of work to do. We have Florida coming up next weekend and we know we need to be ready for that match.
Junior Amy Neal
On having a career-high day: It has been really competitive in practice, but I think I played relaxed today and that helped me play better. I know that if I just play my game, it will be better than if I'm tense. Our setters and passers were also great today. We played great overall as a team.
